Timeshare magnate: Random drug testing in schools

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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Orange County held its first ever meeting of the Heroin Task Force, but the meeting was upstaged by a big celebrity with a big idea.

Timeshare magnate David Siegel spoke at the kickoff press conference just 10 weeks after his 18-year-old daughter died of a drug overdose.

"Three hundred fifty people in this country will die of an overdose today," Siegel said.

Those statistics became reality as co-chair Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings stood on the podium.

"While we were here, I was notified that we are responding to an overdose call down on the South Orange Blossom Trail-Landstar area, so this is something that happens many times a day."

Siegel stole the show though with a bold policy goal. He says he will fight to make his daughter's life mean something.

"My first goal in this fight is to get random drug testing, not only in the universities, but also in the high schools and the middle schools."

The idea is likely unconstitutional, but Siegel will press on anyway, saying parents will think it is great.

"If they knew what was going on in these universities that they would even want their children to a university where drug use is rampant, and if a university was advertising that they were drug testing, that's where I would want to send my child and you would want to send your child as well."

Siegel told us after the press conference he planned to put colleges, starting with the University of Central Florida, in a delicate position: adopt the drug testing, or people will think the school condones drug use.

The Heroin Task Force itself will look for other solutions like more effective drug treatment, and better prevention efforts in schools.